On the surface, the beauty of the Island is unparalleled anywhere in the world, in our humble opinion, and it is clearly a world-class draw for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who flock to the beaches each year.
But not always visible to those who don’t live here is the deep undercurrent of inequity and the struggles that the year-round population of 20,000 faces in finding affordable housing and trying to keep their families afloat.
This is an issue that can feel as old and steady as the tides, but in recent years many new initiatives and innovative approaches have been launched to help Islanders continue to live on the Island they call home. For example, many affordable neighborhoods have been built by Island Housing Trust over the past two decades. Not only did these homes provide needed affordable housing, the developers were mindful to design and build living space that architecturally aligned with the character of the Island.
For the past half-century, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) has carefully guided the Island through the waters of development and managed to avoid the dangers of overdevelopment.
To successfully steer through it all, the MVC must strike a delicate balance. In its role as a regulatory body, it reviews projects deferred to it by town zoning boards of appeals deemed to have a regional impact. In many ways, the MVC had acted as a steward for the Vineyard, particularly in steering clear of overdevelopment and in protection of natural resources and the Vineyard’s character, including protection of the environment on an Island that places great value on conservation. After all, preservation of the Vineyard is what led the MVC to be established by an enabling act in 1977.
But the MVC’s navigation of these complex waters has recently faced a new challenge. The Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee made a determination in April that the MVC is a “local board.” This designation means, according to the ruling, the MVC doesn’t have authority to review projects proposed through Chapter 40B, which is a state statute developed in 1969 to bolster development and meet a housing shortage. It runs counter to previous court decisions that upheld the MVC’s authority to oversee these projects, and so the MVC is challenging the latest ruling in Dukes County Superior Court.
For the sake of the Island continuing its path toward careful development, the MVC’s role as a regional body should be preserved. We believe the MVC needs to be given a license to steer the ship.
While 40B projects are meant to fill the desperately large gap in housing, only a quarter of units in a proposed project need to be affordable to actually qualify under this designation. That is a tradeoff in land available for affordable units. Additionally, the statute can circumvent some local zoning bylaws for easier development, such as restrictions on density.
If the ruling is sustained, most Island towns don’t have the affordable housing stock required to block 40B proposals. Only Aquinnah meets the threshold of having at least 10 percent of its housing stock count as affordable in the state Subsidized Housing Inventory.
The ruling from the state concerns a 40B proposal called Edgartown Gardens, which the MVC had unanimously denied in October. The project is led by Vineyard-raised, Falmouth-based developer William Cumming, who had successfully challenged the MVC’s authority over 40B projects in the Housing Appeals Committee.
Although there are legal battles still pending, Cumming is proceeding as if the project has been approved, and making assurances that his team will work with towns. He has illustrated that through another Cumming project, Green Villa. That is a 116-unit 40B project slated for construction in Oak Bluffs. In this project, 29 units are reserved for affordable housing while 66 units are for those who make up to 150 percent of the area median income, including middle earners whose salary level disqualifies them for affordable housing but who are certainly not wealthy. The project plans were approved by the MVC after multiple sessions with the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals, and following a remand to the town board. It was a grueling process that illustrates that Cumming can indeed work with people.
But there is no guarantee that the next developer who makes plans for the Island will be as willing to listen. And without the MVC, towns would have to run legal battles on their own, expending more taxpayer dollars.
We believe the MVC needs to find a way for the Island to have more affordable housing, but we also recognize that it has earned the Island’s trust over the past 50 years as a reliable navigator to help us chart a course forward.